Is Judge Sotomayor A Legislator?
by Shaine Mata
President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States, Sonia Sotomayor, should be an easy layup for the President after several disasters in nominating people. Judge Sotomayor is both Hispanic and a woman, making it difficult for Republicans to give her a tough time without seeming racist or sexist.
In a recent article, I read about how she considers her judgment better than that of a white male judge. I think it is admirable that a Hispanic woman has come so far as to become a federal judge and Supreme Court nominee. I do not think that her personal background ought to be tauted as a plus. Even President Obama stated that, “what’s clear is that she was simply saying that her life experiences will give her information about the struggles and hardships that people are going through, that will make her a good judge.” While this may be a good thing for a Federal judge, it is not so good for the Supreme Court, which is more academic in their work.
The Supreme Court does not hear fresh new cases where an attorney can bring in mitigating circumstances to lessen the sentence of criminal, or reduce an award by a civil court. By the time cases arrive at the Supreme Court, they are argued on very narrow subjects. Supreme Court cases are the final word on matters that are gray rather than black or white. The Court’s job is to make those gray matters black or white.
A Supreme Court Judge’s experience only matters in their view of the constitution. A judge either views the constitution as silly putty or a rigid form that requires some effort to change. The uproar about Judge Sotomayor’s comment only distracts from the more important issue, which is her view of how the Constitution should be interpreted.
We cannot have Supreme Court decisions colored by personal experiences or an “understanding of the struggles” of the people before them. Courts of original jurisdiction have this freedom because they are taking existing law and applying it to a specific case for a specific person. In the Supreme Court, a specific person’s situation cannot be used to make law for all 300 million Americans. We tend to forget that in their decisions, the Supreme Court is making law. Though they do have that power, it is not granted to them for the sake of being an additional legislature; rather, they have that power to adjust legislation that oversteps the bounds of the Constitution.
Therefore, we should focus more on whether Judge Sotomayor’s view of the Constitution makes her likely to try to legislate from the bench or interpret the law. Personal experience influences legislators; law influences a judge. Is she a legislator, or a judge?
Thank you for reading Contempo Magazine blog with Shaine Mata who writes about politics, technology, and social media for McAllen, the Rio Grande Valley, Texas and America. He is a co-founder of Advantj Media Consortium
